A School Psychologist's resource for all things tech.

Posts tagged ‘accessibility’

Technology and school psychology are not only connected by how we as school psychologists consume or utilize tech, even though that seems like all we have time form. Isn’t one of our greatest strengths as school psychologists consulting with teachers, staff, and parents and problem-solving with the purpose of helping students overcome barriers to their learning? As school psychologists we need to be familiar with tools and resources available to students, teachers, staff and parents so we can be actively engaged in all aspects of the consultation and problem-solving processes. We don’t have to be experts in every little piece of technology but we should be aware of categories of tools and supports. We also should be thinking about tools and resources we hear about that are innovative and exciting for all students and how they could be especially useful for students who are struggling. We can also be thinking about how a tool could be tweaked to be accessible to some students.

Here is an example of what I’m think of. Our district is not a Google App district but many districts around us are and there are many many districts across the country that are Google App schools and districts. Usually there is lots of excitement surrounding new technology and many pieces of technology are great for all students and support universal design for learning and in the initial phases it is difficult to think about how new technology would impact, positively or negatively, smaller groups of students. When teachers and teams get comfortable with the new technology questions start to come up about how to make sure the technology is accessible to each and every student. This post by Richard Byrne on his blog Free Technology for Teachers provides guides to accessibility features to google apps for blind or low-vision students. Knowing about features and supports like this will help you to continue the great consultation work you do every day. I’ll continue to discuss and share resources such as these that will be helpful when consulting with teachers, parents and administrators. What sites do you regularly pull from as resources for technology?